Monthly Archives: June 2012

As the whole country were preparing for their celebrations, in a little village in North Yorkshire, Linton-on-Ouse – preparations were also being made in readiness for Monday 4th June.

The day started a bit grey and overcast but it didn’t dampen our spirits. We were there at 8am and ready to go. Up went the tents, gazebos and all the bustle of “where shall we put the beer & tea tent?”. Then the stage arrived in the shape of a hay wagon, great!

The morning was moving along very quickly – soon it was 12 noon and all was ready. The field looked fantastic with the bunting and flags waving in the beautiful sunshine, the sky was a brilliant bright blue – we all breathed a sigh of relief – the weather was smiling on us.

A quick dash home for a wash and brush up and back to it for any last minute preparations – have we got the medals for the children? Has the beer arrived for the tug of war? Where are the flowers for our judges?

At last its 1pm. Open the gates… the people of Linton poured onto the field setting up their picnic chairs and blankets. Excitement was running round the field …the children were all happy and eager for the start of our Diamond Jubilee celebrations.

Well at last we got underway with our Procession of the crowns. There were shiny ones and bejewelled ones, small and neat, large and elegant ones. There goes the fanfare for our contestants to start their procession around the arena for all to see – what a spectacle!

Mrs Jan Jauncy was our judge and I have to say (I’m glad I wasn’t judging) what a task to have choose from that line up! After a great deal of thought the winners were pulled out, photographed and presented with their medals. Mrs Jauncy was presented with a floral arrangement.

We are very lucky to have our own dance school in Linton and they came along and did a brilliant display the dance teacher Mrs Natalie McCormick was thanked again given a floral arrangement.

Then it was on to the races. They were taken with such gusto by both the children and adults! Time to give out the picnic bags to the children – this caused great excitement and total confusion.

Linton’s-got-Talent and yes it has, we were entertained with dancing, singing, acrobatics all done to music – a young man did acrobatic tricks with a yo yo, a young lady sang with no music – all absolutely fantastic and what courage to stand in front of all those people well done to them all.

Mrs Jean Thompson had the pleasure of judging. Mrs Thompson was also thanked and given a floral tribute.

Mrs Bev Fielding then had everyone up dancing Zumba style – great fun was had by all who took part both young and old.

The weather by this time was sunny and warm. Everybody was relaxed and enjoying the day. The beer tent and tea stall were doing well and the ice cream stall had almost sold out – well at 1952 prices I’m not surprised!

Then it was time for the tug of war! Everyone was on their feet to watch and cheer. Three tugs and the men from the village won! What a cheer went up! They were duly presented with their box of beer to celebrate with.

Both our sit down bingo and jubilee purse were won with £50 for the purse and £100 for the bingo winner well done to the winners – not a bad return for £1.

We then had the mugs presented to the children by Brian Marston of the Parish Council (bought and paid for by the PC).

Time to cut our Jubilee cake, made for us by Sam in the village – isn’t it beautiful the decoration was so carefully done. It was cut up and distributed – it tasted as good as it looked. It’s really scrummy! Thank you Sam.

Things are drawing to a close now and its time for our Last Night at the Proms. Here we go then, on to the stage with the children – break out the flags and away we go – Rule Britannia, God Save our Queen, Land of Hope and Glory – sang with such gusto and of course, all in tune!

We didn’t want it to end, but all too soon it was over time to take everything down and clear away. What we hadn’t realised, was that it was 7:45pm – where had the time gone?

The field started to empty …the villagers of Linton were returning to their homes – we hope happy and glorious – having had a fun time with family, friends and neighbours. We hope we had accomplished what we had set out to do and that was to bring people together having a very happy and enjoyable time. We will remember fondly the day Linton celebrated the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. Especially the children – we hope that it will live in their memory – and if they are lucky enough to see another King or Queen celebrate a Jubilee, that they will remember that they celebrated in Linton-on-Ouse.

I hope as we did, that you all had a really awesome and amazing day. Well done to all who helped and supported the day.

October 21st sees the ceremony to mark the 70th anniversary of the loss of the plane & crew which took off from Linton and crashed near the village of Montcony in Burgundy. This led to organised resistance to the Nazi regime in that area. The fight for freedom which this started has been commemorated ever since.

A Montcony farmhouse

A group from Linton village will attend the remembrance and build on links made with Montcony in recent years. We hope this year to present them with a Yorkshire Rose to go in their Memorial Garden alongside the bench.

Anyone from the area would be welcome to join us. A display of photographs will be available throughout June in Linton Village Hall.

At present the thinking is to go by train: possibly Thursday to Tuesday

York to Kings Cross Thursday morning

Walk over to St Pancras.

St Pancras to Paris (Eurostar)

Paris Gare de Nord to Paris Gare de Lyon

Train to Dijon by Thursday Tea time

Stay there two nights and explore the history, the wine areas and the town – visit the famous Mustard shop! (several years of school trips from Easingwold have been to Dijon!)

After walking around Montcony, the crash site and the churchyard, it was felt that a bench was needed in Montcony. The Parish Council at Linton decided to send money for a bench to be placed in their village.

The memorial bench at Montcony

This is a very English custom, and seemed quaint to the local villagers, but one was organised by the Mayor to be made by a local craftsman. It gave the Mayor the idea to create a memorial garden next to the Mairie to commemorate the crash, but also to show the growing links with the village of Linton and the English families of the airmen who had given their lives to help to free France.

The Resistance tree at Montcony

2011 – a plaque to go on the bench was organised with words in English and in French by Derrick Jauncey. Unfortunately, he died before it was ready, but Jan took it out to Montcony and presented it to the Mayor on behalf of Linton villagers in October 2011.

By then the memorial garden was taking shape with a wall and metal sculpture depicting the plane and the date of the crash. Next to the bench is planted a type of Maple tree which is the symbol of the Resistance in France.

This was also, incidentally, a link with Linton as the Maple leaf building on the RAF base at Linton commemorated the Canadians who were there during the war, and in older times Linton and Newton were linked by an avenue of Field Maple trees.

Bench inscription

It is hoped in 2012 to take a Yorkshire Rose to Montcony on behalf of Linton, to be planted in the Memorial Garden.

A group of villagers from Montcony are planning to visit Linton in 2013.

On 23rd October 1942 a Halifax bomber set off from Linton, for Northern Italy. It crashed just after 9pm in France, south of Dijon, on the edge of a small village called MONTCONY in the Bressane area of Burgundy. The crew of six British and two Canadians were all killed. This was in occupied France, mid way between two major Gestapo-held towns.

The village schoolteacher and others, assembled the bodies in the local school, found a Union Jack and laid them in state. Over 3,000 local people, including the Bishop of Autun, filed past the coffins before the funeral, which was held with great honour and dignity despite opposition from the Vichy. Local children sang our National Anthem as the airmen were buried in Montcony’s churchyard.

Reprisals by the Nazis soon followed – including clearing the area of all debris and parts of the plane, and preventing local girls who’d sung our National Anthem, from attending high school again. Many local people suffered in different ways. As a result, the French Resistance grew in that area, and although painful at the time, has been celebrated ever since.

Each year, on the nearest Sunday to the crash, the villagers of Montcony and survivors from the Resistance from all over the Bressane area meet up to remember the school teacher Monsieur Vincent – or Vic as he was known – and to honour the dead airmen. Representatives from RAFA in Geneva and local dignitaries – even the local MP are present.

In 2007, Brian & Pat Marston and Derrick & Jan Jauncey were on holiday in the area, and were invited by the Mayor of Montcony to join with them.

Sunday 27th October 2007 was a cold foggy morning but over 300 people still arrived in Montcony for the Remembrance celebrations. This began with laying flowers at the plaque on the school wall. honouring M.Vincent. Pat Marston laid a small cross there, on our behalf.

We then processed with the flag bearers, to the church-yard where the English National Anthem was sung once again, and Derrick & Jan Jauncey laid a small cross on each of the airmen’s graves. Then a procession along the road to the crash site where an eye witness read out the names of the airmen helped by local school children, and many floral tributes, including a poppy wreath by Brian Marston, were laid. The salutation was read out in English and in French.

Then we processed back to the French war memorial where La Marseillaise was sung before the last of the two minutes silences, and then the French dignitaries took their leave.

Back at their village hall we had a typical French three-hour meal where speeches were made – in French – and Brian Marston, on behalf of the Parish Council, presented the Mayor with a pair of pictures showing a Spitfire flying over the Minster, and a Tucano taking off from RAF Linton. In return we received a Montcony plate which can be seen in the Memorial cupboard at the Village hall.

It was a wonderful experience as we met many local people, including the present day school teacher – their school has 27 pupils – and exchanged pictures and information on behalf of Linton pupils.

It is hoped that contact can be maintained between the two village schools and that some of the villagers of Montcony will be able to visit Linton next year.

Categories

Meta

Information regarding cookies

This site uses cookies to store information on your computer. Some of these cookies are essential to make our site work and others help us to improve by giving us some insight into how the site is being used.